Remembering Roy E. Disney

Were it not for Roy E. Disney, the course of animation history would have been almost completely different. The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin would likely not have been made, at least not with the class and verve that made them classics. Had Roy Disney not intervened, Pixar might have been preparing to release its fourth film with another studio as Disney prepared to release Toy Story 3 itself. Moreover, Disney’s exodus from hand-drawn animation may well have been permanent.

Conjecture? Hyperbole? Perhaps. But there’s something to be said about a man who engineered not one, but two successful shareholder revolts. A man who, despite amassing enough wealth to purchase a castle in Ireland, recognized what the Disney name stood for and fought to keep the company focus on those ideals. He did not run the Walt Disney Company, but was a key force in handing the keys to the Magic Kingdom over to the outsiders who did.

It’s hard to believe now, with the Disney brand almost omnipresent, but Walt Disney Productions was perched on the brink in 1984. Under president Ron Miller, the sole asset Disney had was its name and library. Animation, once the cornerstone of the company, was reduced to cranking out uninspired efforts such as The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. Most of the second generation of artists trained by the Nine Old Men, led by Don Bluth, left the studio for greener pastures.

Worse, Disney’s animation presence on television was limited to the occasional television special and repeats through its long-running “Walt Disney” anthology series and fledgling Disney Channel. Despite a promising move towards mature-oriented films with the new Touchstone label, flops like Condorman and Return to Oz were more typical of the company’s live-action output.

Disney was in trouble; the company was being circled by various suitors. Roy was the one who realized his uncle’s company had to be turned around in order for the Disney legacy to live on. He resigned from the board in 1984, and with backing from financier Sid Bass, led a coup to replace Miller with Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Roy then rejoined the company as chairman of Feature Animation and a board member. He did not participate in the day-to-day work of supervising the department; that was left to Jeff Katzenberg.

The results of the coup could be seen vividly by 1989. In six years, the animation studio was restored to its former prestige. It had become a major player in television animation. Touchstone opened a large new market for the company, as did VHS and cable. Roy stopped focusing on the company as a whole and retreated to the aspects of the company he knew best, and frequently appeared as a company figurehead and spokesperson.

By 2003, things were not at all well at Disney once more. Former COO, Frank Wells had passed away in 1994; Katzenberg was forced out soon after. Disney, with only Eisner at the helm, fought with their most important content partner and made questionable acquisitions such as Fox Family. Again, it was Roy who saw the company heading in the wrong direction. Again, he quit and launched a very public campaign against the man he had helped appoint.

This second revolt was more impressive than the first. Disney was no longer a small struggling company; it was a big struggling empire. The company’s holdings now included a broadcast television network, one of the biggest brands in sports, several film studios, and a mighty home entertainment unit.

This was no longer his uncle’s company.

In essence, that was exactly the reason Roy launched his second “Save Disney” offensive. He believed the studio had strayed too far from its roots, becoming “rapacious and soulless”. More importantly he criticized the litany of failures that characterized the last half of Eisner’s reign – the dismal performance at ABC, the Fox Family fiasco, mismanagement of animation, etc.

Through a relentless campaign waged online through SaveDisney.com, Roy capitalized on the growing discontent towards the Walt Disney Company and its culture. The site appealed both to fans who had seen the company lose its way but also to investors, going so far as to provide forms to vote against the re-election of Eisner at the company’s 2004 shareholder meeting.

A stunning 45% of shareholders voted against keeping Eisner as CEO. This was unprecedented in corporate America. Keep in mind that many boards act as rubber stamps for the executives in charge. Their power is generally very limited; often, secrets are kept from the board. While it was not a majority, and not enough to depose Eisner, the simple fact that nearly half of Disney shareholders voted against the boss sent a huge message. Eisner was essentially forced to step down as chairman and accelerate his retirement plans.

Roy was not happy with the man picked to succeed Eisner, nor the way he was chosen, but eventually settled all differences with Bob Iger and shut down the Save Disney site. He rejoined the company in a director emeritus role.

Since then, Disney has made a number of large scale changes designed to revitalize the company. Not only did Disney and Pixar reconcile, they merged, with Pixar’s Ed Catmull and John Lasseter supervising a revitalized animation division. ABC’s fortunes began to turn around, and the Al Michaels/Oswald “trade” signified a renewed interest in the studio’s legacy. While big acquisitions still happen, as is the case with the pending acquisition of Marvel, they are more carefully thought out and planned.

In his own way, Roy E. Disney was just as important to the Disney studio as his uncle. He did not have the creative genius of Walt, but his ability to both recognize the need for difficult change and to follow through on it made him a formidable opponent. The Disney company, in its current form, would not have existed if not for Roy’s shareholder revolts, particularly the first one. Had Roy not pushed for Eisner in the first place, Disney may well have been swallowed up by another corporation.

Roy E. Disney can be considered the father of the current Disney corporation. It’s a testament to the man he was that Roy E. Disney never lost sight of the company’s roots.